Sardar Patel National Unity Award: New civilian award

Government of India has announced to roll out a new award in the

prestigious line of civilian honor. Sardar Patel National Unity
Award is the new honor that will be bestowed upon the individuals
and organizations for their exemplary efforts towards national
integration.

Eligibility - Any citizen of India without distinction of religion,

race, caste, gender, place of birth, age or occupation, and any
institution/organization shall be eligible for the Award.

The latest award will be focused on celebrating nation integration

and the awards will be on the lines of Padma awards.

About award

Sardar Patel national unity award will be in the shape of a lotus

leaf made up of fine silver and gold. Wordings carrying ‘Sardar
Patel National Unity Award’ will be written in Hindi.

On the front, a portrait of Sardar Vallabhai Patel will be embossed.

While on the reverse, State emblem will be embossed along with
the motto in Hindi.

Amitabh Bachchan named for Dada Sahab Phalke award

Bollywood actor Amitabh Bachchan was named for the winner of

Dada Sahab Phalke award, which is Indian cinema's highest
honour for an artist.

The 76-year-old screen icon, who rose to stardom with his 'Angry
Young Man' persona capturing the anger of the young generation
in the 1970s with films such as "Zanjeer", "Deewar" and "Sholay",
continues to be a force to reckon with in Indian cinema.

About Award

The Dadasaheb Phalke Award is India's highest award in cinema.

It is presented annually at the National Film Awards ceremony by
the Directorate of Film Festivals, an organisation set up by the
Ministry of Information and Broadcasting.

The recipient is honoured for their "outstanding contribution to the

growth and development of Indian cinema".
Presented first in 1969, the award was introduced by the
Government of India to commemorate Dadasaheb Phalke's
contribution to Indian cinema. Phalke, who is popularly known as
and often regarded as "the father of Indian cinema", was an Indian
film-maker who directed India's first full-length feature film, Raja
Harishchandra (1913). The first recipient of the award was actress
Devika Rani.

World’s first camel hospital at Dubai set to expand its facilities

World’s first camel hospital at Dubai is set to expand its facilities

by an additional 50 per cent in response to the increase in demand
for its services. Mohammad Alblooshi, Director, Dubai Camel
Hospital said, it is a unique hospital catering specifically to the
needs of the burgeoning camel industry that has been flourishing
and growing by leaps and bounds over the past few years.

Camels are an integral part of the United Arab Emirate’s heritage.

Historically, camels, known as the ‘Ship of the Desert’ were a
source of transport as well as food and milk in the region.

The camel has continued to be an integral part of the UAE’s

society and culture to this day, with select breeds used for camel
racing, a sport highly popular among Emiratis.

The camel hospital, built at an estimated cost of 40 million

Dirhams, opened its doors in 2017 to meet the demand in the UAE
for an advanced medical facility dedicated to treating camels.
Since its inception, the hospital has attracted the interest of not
only local owners but also camel breeders from across the world.

The hospital’s customized equipment was adapted from equestrian

medical equipment to accommodate camel treatment and the
facility is also equipped with a mini-race track to rehabilitate
camels after their medical procedures.

A Dubai Govt Media office statement said that the hospital also
aims to contribute significantly to the research and development of
camel medicine as part of enhancing the global body of therapeutic
knowledge related to the desert animal.

According to the veterinary hospital, the facilities have been

enlarged to treat over 30 camels simultaneously. It currently has
capacity for 22.

Best Fifa Football Awards 2019: Lionel Messi & Megan

Rapinoe wins best player of the year

Lionel Messi won the FIFA Men's Player of the Year award on
Monday with Megan Rapinoe bagging the women's prize to cap a
historic year for the United States' World Cup icon. Messi's victory
in Milan was a surprise as he edged out Virgil Van Dijk, who won
the UEFA player's award last month after helping Liverpool to the
Champions League last season. Cristiano Ronaldo had also been
shortlisted for the award, but did not attend the ceremony as he lost
out to his rival in the famous La Scala opera house.

Both Messi, 32, and Van Dijk, 28, are in the running for the
coveted Ballon d'Or which will be announced on December 2.

Rapinoe beat fellow World Cup winner Alex Morgan and

England's Lucy Bronze to the women's title, with US coach Jill
Ellis winning women's coaching award.

The 34-year-old Rapinoe won the Golden Boot for being top scorer
and the Golden Ball for the best player at the World Cup, and also
became the face of the tournament for her outspoken views on US
president Donald Trump.

Messi was top scorer in the Champions League last season with 12
goals before Barcelona were dumped out by Liverpool in the semi-
finals, Barca throwing away a three-goal first-leg lead with a
humiliating 4-0 defeat at Anfield.
The Argentine also won the European Golden Shoe after scoring
36 goals, won La Liga title with Barcelona and helped Argentina to
bronze at 2019 Copa America.

Van Dijk had been bidding to become just the second defender --
after Italian Fabio Cannavaro in 2006 -- to be recognised by FIFA
as the world's best player.

Jurgen Klopp, Allisson Wins Best Coach, Goalkepper Awards

And he missed out on completing a treble for Liverpool with

manager Jurgen Klopp winning the men's coach of the year award
and Alisson Becker the goalkeeper prize.

Klopp won the Champions League with Liverpool ahead of two

other Premier League coaches -- Tottenham's Mauricio Pochettino,
who reached the European final, and Manchester City's Pep
Guardiola.

"It is great, nobody expected this 20, 10, five, four years ago that I
would be standing here," said the 52-year-old German who joined
Liverpool in 2015.

"I have to say thank you to my outstanding club Liverpool FC.

Those who don't love it don't have a heart. As a coach you can only
be as good as your team. I'm really proud of being coach of such
an incredible bunch of players."

Two-time women's World Cup-winning coach Ellis, beat Dutch

coach Sarina Wiegman, runner-up in France 2019, and England's
Phil Neville for the award.

"The World Cup really was a showcase, the world fell even more
in love with the game," said 53-year-old Ellis, who will step down
from the team in October.
Daniel Zsori wins Puskas Award for best goal

Romanian-born Hungarian forward Daniel Zsori won the Fifa

Puskas Award for the best goal, beating strikes from Messi and
Juan Fernando Quintero.

The 18-year-old forward, on his debut, scored a spectacular

overhead kick to win the game for his side Debrecen against
Ferencvaros in stoppage time.

First corporate run train from Lucknow to Delhi ‘Tejas

Express’

In Uttar Pradesh, the most awaited country's first corporate run

train from Lucknow to Delhi, Tejas Express is all ready to hit the
tracks on 4th of October. Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath will flag
off the train from Lucknow which will be run by IRCTC. Railways
have formally made the announcement regarding running of the
train who's advance bookings have already started.

AIR correspondent reports that trial run of country's first corporate

run train was conducted few days back and passengers have started
booking tickets in the first IRCTC-run train which will work on
flexi-fare system. In a special interview with AIR, Chief Regional
Manager of IRCTC Ashwini Shrivastava told that passengers will
get flight like facilities in this train.

Train will run six days in a week with advance coaches which will
have call bell and toilet indicator facilities and it will be the fastest
train between Lucknow and Delhi.

ISRO initiates ‘Project NETRA’ to safeguard Indian space

assets
In the middle of its two-month Chandrayaan-2 campaign, the
Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) last month quietly
initiated ‘Project NETRA’ – an early warning system in space to
detect debris and other hazards to Indian satellites.

The project estimated to cost ₹400 crore, when in place, will give
India its own capability in space situational awareness (SSA) like
the other space powers — which is used to ‘predict’ threats from
debris to Indian satellites. It also goes so far as to serve as an
unstated warning against missile or space attack for the country,
experts say.

The space agency says our SSA will first be for low-earth orbits or
LEO which have remote-sensing spacecraft. Under NETRA, or
Network for space object Tracking and Analysis, the ISRO plans
to put up many observational facilities: connected radars,
telescopes; data processing units and a control centre. They can,
among others, spot, track and catalogue objects as small as 10 cm,
up to a range of 3,400 km and equal to a space orbit of around
2,000 km.

With this the ISRO, which has placed satellites to track the earth
from above, will also start training its eyes onspace from earth.

Space debris could be floating particles from dead satellites or

rocket parts that stay in orbit for many years. Satellite agencies
agonise over even a speck of paint or fragment floating towards
their spacecraft: it disables on board electronics and cripples the
satellite worth several hundred crore rupees besides many services
that run on it. Agencies constantly look for debris at the time of a
launch and through the life of a satellite.

Global action

ISRO Chairman K. Sivan had earlier told The Hindu that the
NETRA effort would make India a part of international efforts
towards tracking, warning about and mitigating space debris.

NETRA’s eventual goal is to capture the GEO, or geostationary

orbit, scene at 36,000 km where communication satellites operate.
In the plans are a high-precision, long range telescope in Leh and a
radar in the North East. “Along with them, we will also use the
Multi-Object Tracking Radar (MOTR) that we have put up at the
Satish Dhawan Space Centre in Sriharikota, and the telescopes at
Ponmudi and Mount Abu” to get a broad SSA picture, he said.

Dr. Sivan said, “Even now we do collision avoidance manoeuvres

on our satellites. To do that we depend on data from NORAD and
others available in the public domain but we don’t get accurate [or
comprehensive] information. By establishing an observation
system of our own, we become part of the global network and can
access precise data.”

NORAD, or the North American Aerospace Defense Command, is

an initiative of the U.S. and Canada that shares selective debris
data with many countries.

The new SSA centre would consolidate debris tracking activities

that are now spread across ISRO centres.

Currently there are 15 functional Indian communication satellites

in the geostationary orbit of 36,000 km; 13 remote sensing
satellites in LEO of up to 2,000 km; and eight navigation satellites
in medium earth orbits.

Security ring

More importantly, the SSA also has a military quotient to it and

adds a new ring to the country’s overall security, as space and
defence experts read it.

NORAD, too, uses satellites, ground and air radars to secure its
two countries against attacks from air, space or sea.

“We should have started this kind of an SSA project a long-time

back,” said Dinesh Kumar Yadvendra, Distinguished Fellow at the
Centre For Joint Warfare Studies, Delhi. “With long-range tracking
radars, the SSA also provides us the capability of an early warning
system against ballistic missiles coming in at a height.”

S. Chandrashekar, JRD Tata Visiting Professor, National Institute

of Advanced Studies, and also a former ISRO scientist, said,
“India, as a responsible space power, should have SSA as a part of
a national capability, as in the U.S. This is a vital requirement for
protecting our space assets and a force multiplier.”

Apart from radars and telescopes, he said India should also think of
deploying satellites that track other satellites — as the U.S. and
other space powers had done.

Combined with other elements of military intelligence, he said

SSA would help us to understand motives behind any suspicious
orbit changes of other satellites and to know if they were spying on
or harming our spacecraft.

Government launches ‘UMMID’ initiative to tackle inherited

genetic diseases of new born babies

23-September-2019

The Union Minister for Science & Technology, Earth Sciences and
Health & Family Welfare, Dr. Harsh Vardhan todaylaunched
UMMID (Unique Methods of Management and treatment of
Inherited Disorders) initiative and inaugurated NIDAN (National
Inherited Diseases Administration) Kendras, which is being
supported by Department of Biotechnology (DBT),M/o Science
and Technology.

Speaking on the occasion in New Delhi, the Minister for Science &
Technology brought attention to the issue of ensuring proper
treatment to children and creation of awareness amongst the
masses and urged upon all to dwell more into finding solutions.
Congratulating DBT for supporting this path-breaking initiative,
Dr Harsh Vardhan said “With the program being implemented at
government hospitals, people who cannot afford expensive care for
genetic disorders will be benefited”. He further emphasized on the
use of cutting edge scientific technology and molecular medicine
for extending Universal Health Coverage for all.

Dr. Renu Swarup, Secretary, DBT also highlighted how UMMID

is a path-breakinginitiative in the health-care sector. She said
“UMMID initiative is meeting the hopes of large number of
persons with inherited diseases”.

Taking into account that congenital and hereditary genetic diseases

are becoming a significant health burden in India, and realizing the
need for adequate and effective genetic testing and counselling
services. DBT has started the UMMID Initiative which is designed
on the concept of ‘Prevention is better than Cure’. In India’s urban
areas, congenital malformations and genetic disorders are the third
most common cause of mortality in newborns. With a very large
population and high birth rate, and consanguineous marriage
favored in many communities, prevalence of genetic disorders is
high in India, the UMMID initiative aims (i) to establish NIDAN
Kendras to provide counselling, prenatal testing and diagnosis,
management, and multidisciplinary care in Government Hospitals
wherein the influx of patients is more, (ii) to produce skilled
clinicians in Human Genetics, and (iii) to undertake screening of
pregnant women and new born babies for inherited genetic
diseases in hospitals at aspirational districts.

As a part of this initiative, in the first phase, five NIDAN Kendras

have been established to provide comprehensive clinical care.

Training Centres at Madras Medical Mission- Chennai;

SGPGIMS- Lucknow; CDFD – Hyderabad; AIIMS- New Delhi;
MAMC- New Delhi; NIIH- Mumbai and CMC Vellore have been
supported to provide training in Biochemical Genetics,
Cytogenetics, Molecular Genetics, and Clinical Genetics to the
clinicians from government hospitals. Screening of 10,000
pregnant women and 5000 new born babies per year for inherited
genetic diseases will be taken up at the following seven
aspirational districts.

The department is planning to expand the program and establish

more Nidan Kendras in other parts of the country, train more
clinicians in clinical genetics and cover more aspirational districts
for screening of pregnant women and new born babies for inherited
genetic diseases to provide comprehensive clinical care, in the next
phase under this UMMID initiative.
The Government of India has launched the National Health Policy,
2017 aiming to shift focus from “sick-care” to “wellness”.
UMMID initiative shall work towards achieving wellness by
promoting prevention of genetic diseases.

For more information on UMMID initiative and NIDAN Kendras,

click here: